1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to display screens affording three-dimensional imaging, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to three-dimensional imaging for specific applications such as mobile telephone and computer display screens.
2. History of the Related Art
The popularity and worldwide acceptance of computers and hand-held mobile telephones is well recognized. This wide spread use has resulted in the computer and mobile telephone becoming common parts of both modern society and contemporary business. There are many reasons for the success of these technologies, and they include the inherent ease with which a user can communicate and/or access information, as well as popular amenities associated therewith. Inherent in both telephonic communication and the accessing of information is the display screen for both mobile telephones and computers.
Within recent years, both computer screens and mobile telephone hand set display screens have manifested technological innovation and related amenities. Today, both computer and mobile telephone display screens are being manufactured and sold in a variety of sizes and shapes which utilize the most advanced liquid crystal display (LCD) technology to provide enhanced, color, and low power viewing. The “low power” aspect of the display screen is particularly significant in the area of mobile telephones. Demands on the function of modern mobile telephones have required improved efficiency in power consumption and battery life. Likewise, viewing enhanced by certain display technologies have afforded the user of both computer and mobile telephones more clarity and efficiency, which allows improvements in aspects such as three-dimensional display imaging.
Stereoscopic, or three-dimensional, imaging is a technique for creating an illusion of depth in a two-dimensional image. Three-dimensional imaging is gaining acceptance and popularity in various applications such as photography, video, gaming, mobile telephones, and animation.
Three-dimensional imaging is currently rendered by a pair of two-dimensional images. To create a perception of depth, or a three-dimensional image, the left eye of a viewer is provided a different image than that of the right eye. The different images are two perspectives of the same image, with a minor deviation similar to the perspectives that both eyes naturally receive in binocular vision. In the mid-19th century, Charles Wheatstone created the first version of stereoscopy by printing two slightly different images side-by-side. The viewer is required to force his eyes either to cross or diverge so that the two images appear to be three. Then as each eye sees a different image, the effect of depth is achieved in the central image of the three. This technique was later refined to include special cameras for taking simultaneous slightly different pictures and a double lens stereoscope for viewing the special pictures.
To create a stereoscopic movie, two images are projected superimposed onto the same screen through orthogonal polarizing filters. The viewer wears eyeglasses that include a pair of orthogonal polarizing filters. As each filter passes light which is similarly polarized and blocks the orthogonally polarized light, each eye only sees one of the images, and the effect of three-dimensional imaging is created. In a similar endeavor, a three-dimensional image may be created using color filters instead of polarizing filters. An image for one eye of the viewer is created in a first color, such as red, and the image for the other eye is created in a contrasting color, such as blue or green. The viewer then views the image through a pair of eyeglasses with color filters for each eye. The color filter system works well for black and white images, however, the color filters affect the appearance of colors in a colored image.
Current three-dimensional graphics for applications on a screen, such as a mobile telephone or computer laptop, may be rendered by sending a specific set of images to a left eye of the viewer and a different set of images to a right eye of the viewer, thus creating a depth impression. The relative position of the screen and the eye are fixed such that the eye is a predetermined range from the screen (e.g., 30-50 cm) and the eye is leveled at a straight angle from the center of the screen. The sets of images are superimposed on the screen, however, the sets of images show a slightly different perspective of the three-dimensional image. The images for one eye are slightly shifted horizontally from the images for the other eye. When a viewer is not within the predetermined range from the screen, then the three-dimensional image is not viewed properly. For example, the three-dimensional image may be blurred break down into the separate sets of images for the right and left eyes. In addition, three-dimensional images for mobile telephones, laptops, etc. are currently only viewable from a front angle.